FAREWELL

Bismillah Al-la-hu Akbar!

[1] THESE queer-looking, queer-sounding words, which in Arabic mean "thanks be to God," were shrilled out at the
very top of Head-nurse's voice. Had she been in a room they would have filled it and echoed back from the
walls; for she was a big, deep-chested woman. But she was only in a tent; a small tent, which had been pitched
in a hurry in an out-of-the-way valley among the low hills that lead from the wide plains of India to
Afghanistan. For Head-nurse's master and mistress, King Hum‚yon and Queen Humeeda, with their thirteen months'
old little son, Prince Akbar, were flying for their lives before their enemies. And these enemies were led by
Hum‚yon's own brothers, Prince Kumran, Askurry and Hindal. It is a long story, and a sad story, too, how
Hum‚yon, so brave, so clever, so courteous, fell into misfortune by his own fault, and had to fly from his
beautiful palaces at Delhi and wander for years, pursued like a hare, amid the sandy deserts and pathless
plains of Western India. And now, as a last resource, his followers dwindled to a mere handful, he was making a
[2] desperate effort to escape over the Persian border and claim protection at the hands of Persia's King.

So the poor tent was ragged and out at elbows, for all that it was made of costly Kashmir shawls, and that its
poles were silver-gilt.

But Head-nurse's "Thanks be to God!" came from a full heart.

"What is it? What is it?" called an anxious voice from behind the curtain which divided the tent
in two.

"What?" echoed Head-nurse in high glee. "Only this: His Imperial Highness, Prince Akbar, the
Admired-of-the-World, the Source-of-Dignity, the Most-Magnificent-Person-of-the-Period—" She went on,
after her wont, rolling out all the titles that belonged of right to the little Prince, until the soft,
anxious voice lost patience and called again, "Have done—have done; what is it? Heaven save he hath not
been in danger."

Head-nurse, stopped in her flow of fine words, sniffed contemptuously. "Danger! with me to guard him? No! 'Tis
that the High-in-Pomp hath cut his first real back tooth! He can eat meat! He has come to man's estate! He is
no longer dependent upon milk diet." Here she gave a withering glance at the gentle looking woman who was Baby
Akbar's wet-nurse, who, truth to tell, was looking just a little sad at the thought that her nursling would
soon leave her consoling arms.

[3] "Heavens!" exclaimed the voice from within, "say you so?" And the next instant the curtain parted, and there
was Queen Humeeda, Baby Akbar's mother, all smiling and eager.

Now, if you want to know what she was like, you must just think of your own dearest dear mummie. At least that
was what she seemed to little Prince Akbar, who, at the sight of her, held out his little fat arms and crowed,
"Amma! Amma!" Now, this, you will observe, is only English "Ma-Ma" arranged differently; from which you may
guess that English and Indian children are really very much alike.

And Queen Humeeda took the child and kissed him and hugged him just as any English mother would have done.
Head-nurse, however, was not a bit satisfied with this display of affection. That would have been the portion
of any ordinary child, and Baby Akbar was more than that: he was the heir apparent to the throne of India! If
he had only been in the palaces that belonged to him, instead of in a miserable tent, there would have been
ceremonials and festivities and fireworks over this cutting of a tooth! Aye! Certainly fireworks.
But how could one keep up court etiquette when royalty was flying for its life? Impossible! Why, even her
determination that, come what might, a royal umbrella must be held over the blessed infant during their
perilous journeys had very nearly led to his being captured!

[4] Despite this recollection, as she listened impatiently to the cooings and gurglings, she turned over in her
mind what she could do to commemorate the occasion. And when pretty Queen Humeeda (thinking of her husband,
the king, who, with his few followers, had ridden off to see if a neighboring chief would help them) said,
"This will be joyful news wherewith to cheer my lord on his return," Head-nurse's irritation found voice.

"That is all very well," she cried. "So it would be to any common father of any common child, Your Royal
Highness! This one is the Admired-of-the-Whole-World, the Source-of-Dignity, the
Most-Magnificent-Person-of-the-Period——"

And she went on rolling out queer guttural Arabic titles till Foster-mother implored her to be silent or she
would frighten the child. Could she not see the look on the darling's face?

For Baby Akbar was indeed listening to something with his little finger up to command attention. But it was
not to Head-nurse's thunderings, but to the first long, low growl of a coming storm that outside the miserable
tent was turning the distant hills to purple and darkening the fast-fading daylight.

"Frighten?" echoed Head-nurse in derision. "The son of Hum‚yon the heroic, the grandson of Baber the brave
could never be frightened at anything!"

And in truth the little lad was not a bit afraid, even
[5] when a distant flash of lightning glimmered through the dusk.

"Heavens!" cried gentle Queen Humeeda, "his Majesty will be drenched to the skin ere he returns." She was a
brave woman, but the long, long strain of daily, hourly danger was beginning to tell on her health, and the
knowledge that even this coming storm was against them brought the tears to her eyes.

"Nay! Nay! my royal mistress," fussed Head-nurse, who, in spite of her love of pomp, was a kind-hearted, good
woman, "this must not be on such an auspicious day. It must be celebrated otherwise, and for all we are so
poor, we can yet have ceremonial. When the child was born were we not in direst danger? Such danger that all
his royal father could do in honor of the glad event was to break a musk-bag before his faithful followers as
sign that the birth of an heir to empire would diffuse itself like perfume through the whole world? Even so
now, and if I cannot devise some ceremony, then am I no Head-nurse!"

So saying she began to bustle around, and ere long even poor, unhappy Queen Humeeda began to take an interest
in the proceedings.

A mule trunk, after being ransacked for useful odds and ends, was put in a corner and covered with a worn
satin quilt. This must do for a throne. And a strip of red muslin wound about the little gold-embroidered
skull cap Baby Akbar wore must, with
[6] the heron's plume from his father's state turban, make a monarch of the child.

In truth he looked very dignified indeed, standing on the mule trunk, his little legs very wide apart, his
little crimson silk trousers very baggy, his little green brocade waistcoat buttoned tight over his little fat
body, and, trailing from his shoulders in great stiff folds, his father's state cloth-of-gold coatee
embroidered with seed pearls.

So, as he always wore great gold bracelets on his little fat arms, and great gold jingling anklets fringing
his little fat feet, he looked very royal indeed. Very royal and large and calm, for he was a grave baby with
big, dark, piercing eyes and a decided chin.

"He is as like his grandfather as two splits of a pea!" cried Head-nurse in rapture, and then she went to the
tent door and shrilled out:

"Slaves! Quick! Come and perform your lowly salute on the occasion of the cutting of a back tooth belonging to
the Heir-to-Empire, the Most——"

She cut short her string of titles, for a crash of thunder overhead warned her she had best be speedy before
the rain soaked through the worn tent.

"Quick, slaves!" she added; "keep us not waiting all day. Enter and prostrate yourselves on the ground with
due reverence! Quick! Quick!"

She need not have been in such a hurry, for it did not take long for the "slaves," as she called them, to
[7] perform their lowly salaam by touching the very ground with their foreheads. There were but three of
them—Old Faithful, the trooper; Roy, the R‚jput boy; and Meroo, the scullion; the rest were away with
their master, King Hum‚yon.

Old Faithful, however, tall, lank, grey-bearded, brought enough devotion for half a dozen followers. He had
served with little Akbar's grandfather, Babar the brave, and when he saw the child standing so fair and
square, he gave almost a sharp cry of remembrance and delight. And when he stood up after his prostration, in
soldier fashion he held out the hilt of his old sword for the baby to touch in token that its service was
accepted. Queen Humeeda, who stood beside her little son, guided his fat fingers to the sword; but at the very
moment a vivid flash of lightning made her give a shriek and cover her face with her hands. But little Prince
Akbar having got a hold of the hilt, would not let go. And to Old Faithful's huge delight he pulled and pulled
till the sword came out of the scabbard.

"An omen! An omen!" cried the old man. "Like his grandfather, he will fight battles ere he be twelve!"

Then there was Roy, the R‚jput lad, whom the royal fugitives had found half dead from sunstroke in the wide,
sandy R‚jputana deserts, and whom, with their customary kindness, they had succoured and befriended, putting
him on as a sort of page boy to
[8] the little Heir-to-Empire. He was a tall, slim lad for his twelve years, was Roy, with a small, well-set head
and a keen, well-cut face. And his eyes! They were like a deer's—large, brown, soft, but with a flash in
them at times.

For the sunstroke which had so nearly killed the lad had left his mind a little confused. As yet he could
remember nothing of what had happened to him before it, and could not even recollect who he was, or anything
save that his name was Roy. But every now and again he would say something or do something which would make
those around him look surprised, and wonder who he could have been to know such things and have such manners.

After him came Meroo, the misshapen cook-boy. He was an odd fellow, all long limbs and broad smiles, who, when
his time arrived, shambled forward, cast himself in lowliest reverence full length on the ground and blubbered
out his delight—now that the princely baby could really eat—at being able to supply all sorts of
toothsome stews full of onions and green ginger, to say nothing of watermelons and sugar cane. These things,
strange to say, being to little Indian children very much what chocolate creams and toffee are to English
ones.

So far all had gone well, and now there only remained one more salute to be made. But little Adam, who was
Head-nurse's own son, and who had hitherto
[9] been Baby Akbar's playmate, refused absolutely to do as he was bid. He was a short, sturdy boy of five, and
nothing would induce him to go down on his knees and touch the ground with his forehead. In vain Meroo, the
cook-boy, promised him sweets if he would only obey orders; in vain Old Faithful spoke of a ride on his old
war-horse, and Roy, who was a most wonderful story-teller, promised him the best of all, Bopuluchi. In vain
his mother, losing patience at such a terrible piece of indecorum, rushed at him and cuffed him soundly. He
only howled and kicked.

And then suddenly Baby Akbar, who had been listening with a solemn face, brought his little bare foot down on
the mule trunk with such a stamp that the golden anklets jingled and jangled, and his little forefinger went
up over his head in the real Eastern attitude of royal command.

"Salute, slave, salute," he said with a tremendous dignity. And there was something so comical about the
little mite of a child, something so masterful in the tiny figure, something so commanding in the loud,
deep-toned baby voice, that every one laughed, and somehow or other Adam forgot his obstinacy and made his
obeisance like a good boy.

And then once more pretty Queen Humeeda hugged and kissed her little son, and all the rest applauded him, and
made so much of him that he began
[10] to think he had done something very fine indeed, and crowed and clapped his hands in delight.

But the merriment did not last long, for there was a clatter of horses and swords outside the tent.